Solving the Greenhouse Gas issue

At a presentation this week, someone said that computers emit more greenhouse gases than the airline industry as a whole. About 4% of all gases are from the IT industry apparently.

Cows emit more gas than computers however.

The numbers are horrific:

at any time, 23 million cows are grazing across Europe

between 9% and 12% of the energy that a cow consumes is converted to methane

methane is 23 times more damaging to the environment than CO2

another deadly factor are cow farts which contain nitrous oxide, 231 times more damanging to the environment than CO2

an average cow gets rid of around 280 litres of gas a day, and 1,000 litres of dung (enough to create 6kw of heat)

farting cattle contribute 4% of global warming, according to German Scientists from the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart

cows produced 46% of Scotland's methane emissions, whilst New Zealand almost missed its Kyoto targets due to farting sheep and cows which contributed 60% of the country's carbon footprint, more than the sum of all New Zealand's industries as a whole

So, should we get rid of all cows?

No way.

And so I was pleased to see, according to the BBC, that farmers in Argentina have solved the bovine gas emissions challenge with this cunning new invention:

Apparently, it captures all the gas all day long and stops it being released into the atmosphere.

About Chris M Skinner

Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, the Finanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal’s Financial News. To learn more click here...